Of Honey and Wildfires

Songs of Sefate #1

by Sarah Chorn

From the moment the first settler dug a well and struck a lode of shine, the world changed. Now, everything revolves around that magical oil. What began as a simple scouting expedition becomes a life-changing ordeal for Arlen Esco. The son of a powerful mogul, Arlen is kidnapped and forced to confront uncomfortable truths his father has kept hidden. In his hands lies a decision that will determine the fate of everyone he loves—and impact the lives of every person in Shine Territory. The daughter of an infamous saboteur and outlaw, Cassandra has her own dangerous secrets to protect. When the lives of those she loves are threatened, she realizes that she is uniquely placed to change the balance of power in Shine Territory once and for all. Secrets breed more secrets. Somehow, Arlen and Cassandra must find their own truths in the middle of a garden of lies.


- Indie Ink Awards winner of Disabled Representation by a Disabled Author
- Indie Ink Awards finalist for Prettiest Prose
- Indie Ink Awards finalist for Lesbian Representation
- Indie Ink Awards finalist for Mental Health Representation
- Indie Ink Awards finalist for Trans Representation
- SPFBO semi-finalist
- R/Fantasy "Best Indie Books" of 2022 and 2023

Genres: Fantasy, Westerns, Young Adult, LGBT, Queer, Steampunk, Fiction

320 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 31, 2020

About the author

Sarah has been a compulsive reader her whole life. At a young age, she found her reading niche in the fantastic genre of Speculative Fiction. She blames her active imagination for the hobbies that threaten to consume her life. She is a freelance writer and editor, a semi-pro nature photographer, world traveler, three-time cancer survivor with hEDS, and mom to two. In her ideal world, she’d do nothing but drink lots of tea and read from a never-ending pile of speculative fiction books. She has been running the book review blog Bookworm Blues since 2010, editing full-time since 2016, and currently works freelance and as the staff editor for Grimdark Magazine.

Reviews

[Kitty G Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

*I was sent a review copy by the author but my review is my honest opinion*

This story is beautifully written and harrowing. It's a story of family and friends, community and loss. It's a tale of a sad past and a bleak future. We follow a few different characters, and all of their lives are lies and half-truths. They hide things because the have to, or hide things because they just don't know the reality.

The world we follow uses 'shine' as currency. It's mined and supplied by the Company, and it has magical properties like being able to restore rotten foods, used for light and power and more. The shine is a valuable commodity, and the boundary is a massive barrier made of shine which won't let anyone through without a magical potion... Except... A few...

Our main characters are Ianthe, Cass and Arlen. Ianthe is a town girl hiding her condition and good friends with Cass. Cass is the real main character with the father who lives in the wilds as an outlaw. She has strange abilities which means shine doesn't work on or for her, and she has to hide a lot of herself from the men who watch her for any sight of her father. Arlen is heir to the company, and he comes to see just what shine is. Along the way he's caught by someone who will change his whole life and offer him truths he nerve expected.

The book is beautifully crafted and skips around in time but still tells a story of these characters' lives. I really enjoyed it once I got to know them and the world and it's a quick but deep read. As always Sarah's writing is stunning and evocative, and I certainly recommend this and would read more in this world. 4*s from me :)

[Andrews WizardlyReads · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantasy western masterpiece… this story made me run the gauntlet of emotion and I emerged just a tad bit broken.

I never knew western plus fantasy would equal absolute brilliance!!!

I loved just about every aspect of this story. From its
Characters to its intricate structure. The elements of Wild West just work so well when certain elements are replaced with something a little more fantastical…

I am gutted and broken after this read. I’m going to go enjoy my post book depression…

Will probably post a dedicated video review after I stop crying.

[Michael Sliter · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve been in a major reading slump, of late. Certainly, the excuses are myriad. Pandemic is one. New baby is another. The fact that my last two most anticipated books were big let downs didn’t help (Burning White and Darkdawn).

So, I’ve been finding myself picking up new books, flipping through the first few chapters, and then tossing them aside. Been trying all sorts to pique my interest, and they‘d all failed

Until Of Honey and Wildfires.

Sarah Chorn has been on my radar for a while, and I thought this new release might be a good place to start. It certainly was. The story—the prologue—gripped me immediately. The only only prologue I can recall grabbing me so thoroughly was Unhewn Throne. I suddenly knew that this was a world I wanted to read about. This was going to be a damned interesting ride.

And it was. It was an emotional one, too.

I’m a father of two now. I am always conscious of missing things, of my children growing up, getting bigger, and potentially losing their use for me. Stories that tackle the complex dynamics of the relationships between children and parents resonate with me on many levels. And that’s what you had with Arlen, Cass, Chris, and Matthew. Cool world aside, I kept reading for these relationships.

I won’t get into plot, but the magic system was cool. Basically, what if folks struck a magical substance that was responsive to the will of the user instead of gold back in 1849? It never fully explained, and I don’t think it needs to be. It’s a pretty unique system, though, and I‘d love to see this world explored to learn more about it.

One of my concerns coming into this book was that I’d heard Chorn’s writing could be lyrical, poetic, and dare I say purple. I’m never a big fan of that, and thankfully it was not distracting (though a few metaphors fell flat for me). It was actually the Ianthe chapters that didn’t land for me, partially because of the purple-ness feeling a little forced. Those chapters were short, though, and I’m sure for some, they will love them the most.

Overall, I highly recommend Of Honey and Wildfires for fantasy fans who want a little deeper dive into emotions. An interesting world is the foundation for even more compelling relationships, and you’ll find yourself wanting to know more about both.

[Esmay Rosalyne · Rating 5 out of 5]

First read 2022: 4.5 stars
Second read 2023: 4.5 stars (rounded up)

*********************************

You know those authors whose writing and stories just speak to you on a deep emotional level? Yeah, Sarah Chorn is absolutely becoming one of those for me. After reading (and loving) A Sorrow Named Joy, I immediately knew that I wanted to read anything and everything Chorn has ever written. So, I decided to finally pick up the gorgeous Of Honey and Wildfires, and holy smokes… this didn’t just meet my expectations, but completely blew them out of the water.

Of Honey and Wildfires is a delightfully unconventional fantasy western following three characters across several timelines, which all converge beautifully in the end. They live in a world where a magical oil called Shine is a much sought-after commodity, even though it can do more harm than good if you are not careful.

Now, I don’t want to give anything away about the plot, because I think part of the beauty of this story lies in the bewilderment that you will feel while discovering what’s at the heart of this tale. You will feel a bit lost, but that is okay. Just trust the author.

All you really need to know is that this is an achingly beautiful drama about family, friendship, secrets, exploitation, loss, greed, grief, sorrow, letting go, and, most of all, of love and hope in all their devastating beauty. The structure of this story is complex and yet so simple at the same time, which perfectly reflects the chaotic and messy nature of life. This entire story is just so beautifully and painfully human.

Both the protagonists and all the most minor side characters are so complex and well-developed, which made their hardships and struggles feel extremely genuine and real. Their complex relationships and heartfelt interactions drive the narrative forward, which is exactly why this story is so emotionally gripping.

I also really appreciated that all the POV characters are so different and distinct from each other, both in their personalities as well as in their worldviews and life experiences. They all added their own layer of depth and nuance to the story, which made this book all the more compelling. At it's core, this is a really deep and layered character study, and that worked so well for me as a character driven reader.

Also, I really enjoyed seeing how wonderfully diverse this world is. Race and queer identity are big yet subtle themes in the story, plus there's a beautiful sapphic dynamic going on. All the representation is handled with so much love and care, and I especially appreciated how sexuality and gender never became a main point of contention in the story. It’s just part of the human experience, which is what this book is all about. Whether you can personally relate to these characters’ experiences or not, you will undoubtedly empathise with them and feel for their struggles. Chorn just knows how to capture raw human emotion in an achingly beautiful way, tugging on your heartstrings in ways you won't be ready for.

And everything that was already so great about this story is only amplified by the breathtakingly gorgeous and utterly mesmerising prose. I’ve always said that prose isn’t something that can make or break a book for me, but after reading Of Honey and Wildfires, I am seriously reconsidering that statement.

Sarah Chorn is an absolute wordsmith of the highest caliber and turns her prose into pure art. I don’t think there’s a book that I have annotated more than this one, as every page had a line or passage that just spoke to my soul. Whether it's the sense of atmosphere that’s created or the way in which the characters’ emotions are conveyed, Chorn delivers it all in a devastatingly gorgeous manner that allows you to get fully engrossed and lost in this beautiful tale.

All in all, I am truly blown away by this book and couldn't be happier that it ended up being just as amazing as I was hoping it to be. If you are in the mood for a gutwrenching story that is both very easy and extremely challenging to read, then I highly recommend giving Of Honey and Wildfires a shot. It's everything you didn't know you needed from a fantasy western, and it will undoubtedly wreck you in the best way possible.

[C.J. Daley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this one for the Indie Ink Awards, but I got the book on kindle from a free event ran by the author!

The author’s Twitter says, “Books on Amazon. They’ll break your heart,” and I don’t know for sure if she meant her own, but she’s certainly still right. This is one of the most heartfelt, and heartrending stories I have ever read. Every sentence is like a gut punch. Destroying the reader with ease.

This novel is also one of the more unique stories I’ve ever read. It’s fantasy, in a fantasy world, and yet it still reads like a period piece or historical fantasy for the Wild West. It has that industrial, gritty feel of a cowboy western, and it technically has a train heist!

The boundary, an invisible line to most that demarcates the civilized from the other, is where the fantasy elements are amped up. Inside the boundary folks are imbued through all things shine. Shine is somewhat like an essence or drug-like substance like in Dune, however here it functions as so much more. It stops the aging of food, keeps it at the correct temperature, stops rot, it heals people, and yet it can also destroy. Those that live with it and intake it show its use through a variety of colors. Your skin and hair may be orange or purple, green or blue.

In many ways this novel functions as a slice-of-life story. Except that every single character is being emotional decimated over and over, with nothing good staying. Cassandra has perhaps the most hurtful experience of all. And she has over a 15 year journey to her finally reaching her max. Arlen thinks everything is fine until it’s not. Sadly he doesn’t get to choose finding this out on his own, it’s thrust at him, as it so often is in life.

The author uses such broad strokes and fanciful writing that the mundane reads magical, the typical is anything but. And every paragraph and page is truly emotionally astounding. Metaphorically, lyrically, poetically brilliant.

Personally a 5/5*. Just fantastic.

https://fanfiaddict.com/review-of-hon...

[Liis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read any review for this book and what stands out to you most is that in each and every one Sarah’s writing gets an honorable mention. I second each word of praise for this author’s writing because it works blessed miracles.

The prologue is often that which readers particularly do not like all that much. Personally, I don’t mind them but often they feel like you could also do fine without them. OHAW has one of those prologues that actually does what prologues are meant to do – you’re caught in a web of intrigue straight away. And, straight away that writing of Sarah’s starts to set up the scene wonderfully.

This was love, this burning. It was not as sweet as honey; rather, it was a wild thing. A tempest. A raging forest fire. It was hungry, and it demanded. For what would a father not do for his child?

Want to know what else happens straight away? You’ll feel a pinch in your insides… because this book will start to hit you right in the feels before you can utter ‘hang on, let me brace my fragile heart‘. Too late, get the box of tissues at the ready!

The story is … eh… hard to explain. In a nutshell it’s simple and yet again, it’s not. It’s complicated and complex as hell… just like humanity in its entirety… and it’s painful but also wonderful! It feels like one of many-layered types, and yet at the heart of it all, I think, is the one bittersweet beauty of love, and how love doesn’t vanquish hate, it doesn’t vanquish prejudice and it doesn’t really vanquish evil. I think this is the crux of OHAW – for me anyway – the inner strengths, the finding of one’s inner strength, the sacrifices, the heartaches, the simply having to deal and all because there is a spark of love for something or someone. Sarah basically weaves a whole lot of emotion into the story… the plot is pretty much, I feel, secondary. Don’t get me wrong – the book has a great plot, but Sarah Chorn simply sings emotional turmoil off each page, like a freaking siren! And she does it well.

Furthermore, moments of foreboding and surprising revelations keep the story progression solid and firmly in the ‘this is going to give me a coronary‘ category. And, again, the beauty here is the fact that the brawl and the “necessary” evil and heartbreak is balanced out with these incredible moments of tenderness, caring and love. Sarah writes an amazing scene full of emotion which made me feel like time was standing still.

See? I can’t simply get past the fact that this book is, whilst a really good story with solid characters, a masterpiece foremost due to the writing style. It’s unforgettable.

And, I kind of refuse to go into the detail of the story… From the blurb you can read there is a place called Shine Territory and there is something that is called ‘magic oil’ – that is all you need to know. Let the small, amazing details reveal themselves to you as you devour this book. I know I was taken unawares and was pleasantly surprised by the imaginative world Sarah has weaved in with the historical yet somehow modern feel. It’s a quirky mix for a setting but it totally works.

I do not think it is in my nature to know peace. Some people are born with a fight in their bones. I was a rock thrown into a still pond. Already, the ripples were spreading. My very existence was a conflict.

The characters are intriguing. Through 3 main POVs – Cassandra, Ianthe, Arlen Esco – you’ll find it hard to not feel sympathy and love for the MCs and you will be caught by surprise how much you become to care. And you will care because Sarah manages to show you the character’s hearts, bare their souls, their innermost wishes and dreams and hurts and heartaches… You are being handed a beating heart on the palm of a hand, and you cannot look away. Especially as it is a cruel world the 3 have to navigate. There are so many life altering decisions made on behalf of them and by themselves that it really can make you wonder- how on earth will this all resolve itself? In tragedy and turmoil? Or in victory after a bloody battle? Or a happily ever after? Ohhhh, which will it be… I hope you’re itching to find out for yourself.

Folks, this book will leave you in a state of silent contemplation, and with somewhat of a hiraeth. Because I have hardly mentioned the skill of the author’s writing ( 😛 ) I must simply tell you that Sarah Chorn managed to make me yearn for things the characters were yearning, managed to make me miss what and who the characters were missing… and I simply need to know where the story goes from here. Luckily, I have pre-ordered Glass Rhapsody and I don’t have to wait for too long. I have chocolate, my feels and, just in case, a few tissues at the ready!

[Isabelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of Honey and Wildfires // by Sarah Chorn

I can say with all honesty that this book was unlike any other fantasy book I have read. I could say that it reminds me of this in one moment but then it reminds me of an entirely different one the next and all of them and none of them would do the comparison justice. One moment it is whimsical in its descriptions of nature and characters’ feelings but in the next moment it turns unflinchingly raw and brutal in the way it cuts into the reader’s heart. This woman does not shy away from tragedy. I was warned that my heart would be broken by the time I finished this book and the warnings were true but I still cannot wait to get back into this world and have my heart broken anew by more Chorn’s beautiful writing with the next books in the series.

I loved the mixing of points of view and timelines. While some things felt a little unclear at first, the gradual reveal made for a great slow burning effect throughout the story in a way that wouldn’t have been as good if everything was moving strictly chronologically. What really added some incredible depth to this book was how entirely different each POV was, not just because the characters had different personalities but because the way they viewed the world varied so immensely. I do wish there would’ve been a little bit more detail about the shine, the ways in which it affected the community and how it was utilized in every-day life, but in all honestly, I just did not want this book to end. I have a feeling it will end up in my top ten this year.

I bought Oh, That Shotgun Sky the same day I finished Of Honey and Wildfires. I had already pre-ordered Glass Rhapsody by then simply because I wanted to support the author since she is so sweet to everyone but finishing oHaF two weeks before the release of it made for a terrible wait. Of course, as it so often happens, life got in the way and I haven’t been able to read the novella yet but I definitely plan on reading both it and Glass Rhapsody as my first two books during #IndieAugust.

[Rebekah Teller · Rating 5 out of 5]

We read for entertainment, we read for escape. We read to feel connected to others and sometimes to try to find ourselves. Of Honey and Wildfires did each of these things for me.

It’s a fantasy western setting with a unique magic system based on a type of oil they call shine. In this backdrop, Chorn paints a heartbreaking drama of love, family, inheritance and secrets. Her raw, lyrical style unfurls as the story deepens. This book tore my heart into pieces and laid them out in front of me.

Arlen Esco, heir to the shine fortune, leaves his comfortable upbringing to visit Shine Territory out west. Excited for the journey, he finally gets to see the workings of the empire he’ll inherit. He’s ready for adventure, though a bit out of his element, but no amount of study could have prepared him for what he finds.

When his train is attacked by criminals, Arlen is kidnapped and taken through a different tour of the territory, and given a history of it he never expected.

What risks are worth taking to keep the shine flowing? What lives are at stake and at what cost? Arlen has decisions to face.

Chorn gives the reader a poignant view of the suffering of territory workers, their lives and loves lost, and the dangerous scale of greed in a land where the rich decide the laws and the welfare of others is trapped in the intricate demands of industry.

[Zack Argyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of Honey and Wildfire is aptly named, as the story is both sweet and raging. Reading it felt as though I'd reunited with old friends and we were bonding over the pains of life. Laughing. Crying. Embracing. We are family now.

I went into this book with mixed expectations. First, I have heard wonderful things about this book and about Chorn's writing. And second, it is nothing like what I typically read, so I wasn't certain I would enjoy it, or even finish it. However, despite there being no moments of raucous cheering for the underdog hero, nor brutal battles filled with magic and chaos, this story elevated my spirit. After finishing the final pages, I feel an odd sense of satisfaction. I shouldn't; it's depressing as hell. Many have finished it with a broken heart. And yet, for me, I am left feeling a bud of hope rising in the blighted aftermath.

This story was a wonderful surprise, and I already have a few people in mind that I'd like to lend it to. Chorn's prose shines throughout, and the story itself is quite wonderful. The puzzle comes together painfully well in the end. If you, like me, want to expand your horizons, look no further.

A few short quotes that stuck out to me.

"Everyone deserves love, even if they make the loving of them difficult."

"Love is the loneliest place in the world."

"I know what eternity feels like, and I do not like it."

[Janny]

A tautly written wierd western fantasy, told in fiercely exquisite language, that unreels with well done suspense, and atmospheric mood, and sears in the unforgettable emotional feeling of loss, abandonment, mortality, and the inner tempests of a child displaced. One of the finest works that explores human emotional tumult with the gloves off that I have ever read.

No expository lumps or clunky expanations here, the experience told is direct and first person, with an honesty that digs hard below the cuticle. A read to spark empathy with an honest and scary intimacy few books ever dare, with sublime metaphor and visceral soul.

Sarah Chorn has a brilliantly original voice and insights that run fathoms deep. One cannot read this book and fail to be moved.

[Steven William William · Rating 5 out of 5]

New Favourite

Good heavens, I really recommend this.

Of Honey and Wildfires is a damn fine name for a book that feels like watching Bob Ross paint a Wild-West gunfight.

Sarah Chorn goes straight onto my list of must-read authors, and il explain why:

The prose goes hard from the opening lines and Chorn keeps her foot on the poetic gas the entire time. To my minds eye, it feels like arthouse cinematic meets the solid pacing of a genre piece.

It's also just a beautiful Wild West Fantasy story about family, and greed.

The characters are distinct and fascinating, and I won't spoil a damn thing except to tell you that they have depth, that I rooted for them the whole time, that I was moved by their journey, that I badly want to read their next chapters.

The action flows well, the pacing is superb, the twists and turns are well executed, the finale does not disappoint, and the catharsis is palpable.

Absolutely outstanding work.

Chefs kiss.
Standing ovation.
I'll be reading everything else that Chorn writes, forever.

[C.T. Phipps · Rating 5 out of 5]

OF HONEY AND WILDFIRES by Sarah Chorn is a steampunk fantasy novel that is a marked contrast to her previous novel, SERAPHINA'S LAMENT. The latter novel was a dark and foreboding story set against a fantasy version of the Ukrainian famine engineered by Joseph Stalin. The former is a fascinating story about company mining town where the poor are forced to labor daily in order to extract a magical liquid called Shine. Of the two, I think I like this one better but both are ones I strongly recommend.

This novel is told from my multiple perspectives with my two favorite characters being Cassandra, a young girl recently abandoned by her father to live with her aunt, and Arlen, the son of the company that owns everything in the region. Cassandra has been raised in the wilderness her entire life and is practically feral with many practical skills of survival but almost nothing that would help her survive as a civilized lady. Arlen is a mature and dapper gentleman who is given the opportunity to be governor of the Shine mining territory. This is despite the fact he is disgusted by the conditions that the miners and their families are forced to endure but are the key to their immense profits.

The world-building was something very familiar to me and while they comment on it being the "Wild West", the region actually felt much more like the Wild East. Having grown up in Appalachia, I'm very familiar with the concept of Company Towns and the various methods people were kept in near slave-like conditions to mine coal. Some good details about how Shine infects everything from clothes to food, just like coal did in towns devoted to its extraction, helped make the world believable to me.

Sarah Chorn is a progressive writer and there's some solid representation in the book that helps make a more diverse cast. One of the protagonists is a trans character and another biracial as well as dyslexic. These details are incorporated fluidly into their narrative. Neither of these qualities help them become socially acclimated in the pseudo-Gilded Age where corporate loyalty is a literal matter of life and death. Life is cheap in the region and the highest duty is to be willing to labor for your family to eat until you drop over dead. "Your family" is a constant excuse for doing whatever the corporation wants even though they get only pennies from your labor.

I especially like Cassandra's journey as a child of an outlaw and wild girl into acclimated member of the miners' society. Her father committed an act of terrorism in order to cripple the Shine Company's supply of Shine, only to accidentally get a lot of workers killed. That hangs over her head along with the fact she's ethnically apart from the other families. Watching her struggle with these mundane things in a fantastic context really worked for me.

I very much enjoyed the seemingly low-stakes nature of the conflict as well as the fact this is a work that is primarily a character study of its protagonists. Too many fantasy novels are only interested in saving the world and defeating the Dark Lord. This is more an example of people dealing with an all-consuming capitalist culture that contrasts strongly to our present day (and reinforces all too many other present day flaws to society). The villain is more Mr. Potter than Sauron and its stronger for that. We get to explore the sense of control, desperation, and force that drives our protagonists forward.

In conclusion, this is a really solid and entertaining fantasy novel. I love the Shine Company as an antagonist and the strange world that Sarah Chorn has crafted that is simultaneously new as well as extremely familiar to this descendant of coal miners. Family is at the center of this but also the desperate circumstances that society can enforce on both the poor as well as the rich.

[Alex (Spells & Spaceships) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of Honey and Wildfires is a delightfully unique read – a gaslamp fantasy western – full of beautiful prose, immersive imagery and character relationships that pull at your heartstrings.

I’ve read a few books recently that were edited by Sarah Chorn and was struck by how professional and free flowing they were, so naturally I was curious to experience her own writing style and command of the written word.

This is the first of Sarah Chorn’s books I’ve read and one of the biggest impressions it left on me is just how beautifully written it is. I’ve read books with lovely prose that are overly flowery, or bordering on pretentious. Of Honey and Wildfires isn’t one of them; it’s heartfelt, passionate, delicate, touching. It’s poetic and meaningful and I loved it – it’s the sort of prose that makes you feel relaxed and fulfilled. It was almost a case that the author could have been writing about anything and I’d still have enjoyed reading because of the strength of her prose.

This is what language is. Weather raging, then dissipating, leaving behind nothing but barren landscape covered in bones

I think a strong writing style also helps the reader feel immersed and comfortable within the pages of a book.

Chorn adds to these immersion levels with how she paints a vibrant picture of an Old West inspired setting. The frontier here (the Territory) is dominated by a company making its money in shine – a magical substance mined from the earth and used for most reasons you can think of, a powerfully addictive drug, fuel, weaponry, its very diluted version simply used to flavour and preserve food.

Chorn really does bring you straight into the old west atmopshere, transporting you right into that environment – one I’ve not enjoyed the likes of since first playing Red Dead Redemption and being sucked in to a world of train tracks, isolated farms and rickety old mines. A world where people are scratching a living where the perceived opportunities don’t align with the reality.

The author conveys plenty of bleak tragedy and highlights the effects the company and its greed for more shine has on the people of the territory – the whole territory and its crude shine practically owned by them, for all intents and purposes.

Don’t expect one big spaghetti western adventure of pistols at dawn and riding off on the sunset, that’s not what this book is about, nor does it try to be. This book is about the people trying to live a life of freedom and finding the opposite.

Young children work in the shine mines for 14 hours a day, just to support their families, who they only see every couple of weeks. There is no law or security for them in the dark tunnels they descend to in the middle of the night.

Our two main characters’ lives are full of hardship and tragedy too, and Chorn excels in convincing us to feel their pain and struggles. Although she has put a lot of thought into creating a setting you want to spend time in, most of the time the setting is actually the characters’ heads. This makes a change from a lot of fantasy with sprawling plotlines.

I have buried so much of myself, I have turned my garden into a graveyard

I’d say the focus here is on people and the author certainly appears to have a good grasp on the human condition and how people think and feel.

There will be plenty of readers who see their own experiences in the LGBTQ representation that is presented with such love and understanding. Even if you can’t personally relate to all of the characters, the author makes it easy to empathise and really feel for them and their hardship. None of the characters are ever boring to spend time with; in fact the opposite is true and it was a really fulfilling read in being able to really get to know the characters in depth.

There is a big focus on relationships, namely what it means to love, grieve and to make sacrifices for those that you care about.

Something quite novel that also showcases the author’s skill and the character development is the use of chapters being in different parts of the timeline. There are some chapters that take place a few days ago, or in the present – some are over a decade ago. This does take a little more effort on the part of the reader and could conceivably be confusing at times especially for speed readers.

I feel however that it is actually very rewarding given how the story and the character relationships/character development is handled and think the book is better for it.

It might even be that some readers might only appreciate how intelligently done this is by re-reading parts (or paying close attention) to recognise the significance of the way in which it’s laid out.

When the upbringing of a character is essential to understanding who they are, it’s not enough just to mention things that has happened years ago – you need to experience it.

Now, my greatest fear is the silence between heartbeats, the pause between breaths. I know what eternity feels like, and I do not like it.

There’s a lot to enjoy in Of Honey and Wildfires – I’ll be bold and say in terms of writing style, I’ve never read anything that beats the beautifully flowing prose found here! Fans of character driven books especially will find a lot to love, too.

I hope you enjoyed the review and are considering checking out Of Honey and Wildfires!

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing! Absolutely amazing! What a read for my first book of 2022 - it ripped my heart out of my soul with so many parts of this story, combined with Sarah's beautiful prose! This is a Wild West story turned on its head and if you haven't read this is easily making its way on to my recommended reading immediately list!

[Lynn K : Grimmedian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of Honey and Wildfires is a soul baring story. The characters are broken and remade in so many ways. The author has again poured herself into the story and the result is amazing.
The story is based on magic. Loads of it. The Shine. The wells of crude Shine and the territory where they are found. It comes at a cost though. Powerful in a crude state, addictive to those who drink it, it eventually destroys them. It also contains healing and strengthening properties. A double-edged sword, those who benefit from its healing, also must face withdrawal from it. Providing even heat and light, it is in nearly everything, even food and water is often supplemented as well. Exposure to Shine changes everyone, coloring hair and skin to hues in violet to jade and everything between. It’s easy to stand out if you’re new to to the sparsely settled region.
All of the territory is owned by the Company. All owned by Matthew Esco. Contained within a magical boundary created by Matthew himself. Now it’s depended upon by the world at large, and though the magic is a constant, it doesn’t control events so much as saturates them. It was Shine that created the maelstrom in which Cassandra, Arlen, and all those they love find themselves.
There are two main points of view in Of Honey and Wildfires. A third though, Ianthe, isn’t entirely relegated to the background. Her journey is devastating. Cassandra and Arlen, the main characters, take turns in telling us their stories which come closer and closer until…
But that would be spoilers.
Both character lines are riveting, yet quite different. Cassandra is dealt the blow of losing her parents and living with her aunt at age five. After her mother’s death she and her father live wild as her father is a wanted man, but he realizes it is no proper way to raise her, and takes her to his sister Annie. Cassandra doesn’t look like the folks of the territory and is treated with hate and derision for both her appearance and her father’s crimes. It’s well known in Grove that Cassandra is the child of Christopher Hobson. Her only ally is a fierce but delicate girl named Ianthe, and Cassandra loves her with all her heart.
Arlen Esco is heir to the Shine fields owned by his father. He’s been raised outside the boundary in wealth and luxury, with a fine education. Sadly, he was isolated, is adrift and lonely. His father, a cold man, has never shown him kindness or love. In fact, he’s never even touched Arlen. Now at age 20, an accountant for the company, he’s going into Shine territory for the first time.

Sarah Chorn has a way with words that make even the most heart ripping events a thing of beauty. Sarah is a freelance editor, and having read many of the works she’s done, I can say that she knows her stuff. Now an author as well, she exhibits a tremendous mastery of language while conveying deep emotions. The characters drive the story and the world building is excellent. The descriptives are more like things which blaze off the page as more than just a load of purple prose. It’s lyrical and heartbreaking at once. With staccato bursts of short chapters and short lines that hit their mark every time.

I was undone completely by the story itself. A very emotional ride is in store for readers. It isn’t for the faint of heart. If you love well written fantasy that has you so invested you may need a box of tissues, then this is the book for you.
I found her debut novel, Seraphina’s Lament (The Bloodlands #1), to be heartbreaking and beautiful as well. A fine mix of magic, gods, and horror, which I highly recommend.
Both of these books have a really great fantasy story arc within and I’m looking forward to her continuation of The Bloodlands with anticipation.
I received an ARC of this book from the author for review.

[Corey (grimdark_dad) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a painfully human, gorgeous story that Chorn has written. It’s a simple tale, beautifully told with some stunning prose. The relationship between Cassandra and Ianthe is, to me, the soul of this book. Equal parts coming-of-age & love story, I just felt my heart getting squished while my stomach did flips whenever these two were on the page. Just…SO MANY EMOTIONS!!!

Full review:

https://grimdarkdad.wordpress.com/202...

[Lukasz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review and rating closer to the publication date but I have mixed feelings about this one.

[Marilyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Give me your broken heart, and the roaring storm of your shattered soul. Give it all to me. I am not afraid of the dark.”

There were beautiful depictions of emotions throughout this book. Although this quote above was near the end, as a reader, you knew from the start that this was not going to be a story of unicorns and rainbows. “Sometimes it is the wounds we do not see that leave the deepest scars.”

This was a slow burn story. I didn’t think I’d like it as much as I did. Usually I’m not a fan of western style stories - the Wild West of America that is. I was completely sucked in and engaged here. It mostly read like fiction except for the strange magic, Shine, that gives people shades of various colors and can do some other things.

Cassandra and Arlen were the main characters and so likeable. The father-outlaw, Chris, and Cass’s girlfriend, Ianthe, we’re very good supporting characters as well. Actually everyone was well developed.

Love was a central theme here. For Cassandra, it was love found then lost. For Arlen, it was never and then found. “Love wasn’t always soft. Sometimes it devoured. Sometimes it felt like teeth.” And for the father, Chris, he was broken after the death of the mother, and couldn’t take care of Cass anymore. “I left you here not because I don’t love you, but because I love you so much to have opportunities I cannot give you. I wanted a better life for you. That’s what love is. It’s not holding on, it’s letting go. I love you enough to give you more.” Ah, the heartache! But was she better without him?

Also watching the slow demise of Ianthe was so poignant and heartbreaking. She needed shine to give her relief. “It is strange, is it not, how the very things we crave end up destroying us in the end. It’s as though we desire the shine of the knife, but only feel satisfied once we see our own blood.”

The bond between father and daughter was so strong even her love for Ianthe couldn’t break it: “I could no more stop loving him than I could stop breathing. He gave me my life and has done his best to keep me as safe as he could. He is not perfect. What man is? But he was my reason. He kept me swimming when all I wanted to do was drown. My loyalty to him was the bedrock my life was built upon.”
Of course there is a bittersweet ending. It tears at your soul. You must let this story just sink under your skin. You will be amazed how part of the story you became at the end.

[Jordan Short · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of Honey and Wildfires is an emotional wild west fantasy that swings for the fences. I had heard rave reviews about the novel before going in so I had high expectations…and I was not disappointed. This book is a great read for anyone who appreciates prose with a poetic flare and complex family dynamics.
On the subject of complicated families, one of the story’s big strengths is its characters, and in particular the intricate interwoven relationships they possess. The main character, Cassandra, narrates her memories of her father, an outlaw and revolutionary of sorts. Forced to live on the lam, his relationship with her has always been strained by the realities of life on the run. As the story progresses new characters are added to Cassandra’s world, each with its own unique ties to the other characters in the story. The result is a family saga with a rich emotional life.
The worldbuilding is a great. It’s a wild west oil rush feel, only the oil has magical powers. It acts as gunpowder and a powerful healing agent, only it’s highly addictive. There are a number of other uses and interesting aspects of the world that dovetail well with other elements in the novel.
The story flowed very well. It was compelling and well-paced. The prose is ornate and emotional and it has moments of high emotion. I loved this book and I’d highly recommend it. I’m looking forward to the second installment in the duology, Glass Rhapsody, which is out in a week or so.

[James Harwood-Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Powerful!

An elusive outlaw targets the son of powerful tycoon. In the dangerous Shine territory one protects his own.

Weird West masterpiece! Full of heartbreaking emotion. Couldn’t stop tearing through this one! Great stuff 👍

[Trudie Skies · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ll put my hand up and say that I’m rarely a fan of literary style prose. I often find myself confused, lost in the metaphors of what the author is trying to convey. When I stepped in to Sarah Chorn’s wild western fantasy, Of Honey and Wildfires, I entered a world of poetic prose, coloured by the shine of this world’s magical oil you could say (look at me being poetic!) yet none of Sarah’s beautiful prose hindered or confused me. It enticed me, cast a spell and dragged me in, and I fell completely into this world.

Set in a fantasy American west, this is a world where oil possesses magical properties and is much sought after, leading to wild-west like power struggles and a business baron who rules over it all. The story focuses on three POV characters and the relationship between themselves and the outlaw who ties them all together. These character’s history unravel as we travel through their past in alternating time lines that eventually coalesce to a heartbreaking end. But to reveal anymore would be spoilers!

Whilst this is a fantasy tale, it focuses more on the relationships between characters, their demons and struggles, and less on action, but there are plenty of moments that’ll have you clutching at your chest.

The magical oil of this world is known as shine, and whilst we learn of its effects throughout the story, such as the ability to light fires or make rotten food healthy and edible again, we don’t learn an awful lot more about how shine works or how it came to be. There are certain characters which are immune to shine, whereas the majority are so affected by it that it turns their skin into a colourful hue or leaves them with a crippling addiction. I would have loved to learn more about shine and how it can be used, and hope that some of my questions will be answered in the upcoming sequel this summer!

It’s the characters who make or break a story for me, and I loved getting to know the three POV’s of Cassandra, Arlen, and Ianthe on their separate journeys, and watching these journeys finally come together. This is a story bursting with emotion, and these poor characters really go through hell alongside their families.

The main source of emotional angst comes from the father figures of the story, and how the characters relate to their fathers and whatever sins their fathers have committed within this harsh world. I found this especially relatable as I lost my own father a few years ago, and my own conflicted relationship was mirrored in Cassandra and Arlen’s. I wouldn’t say this was an overly dark story, but certainly a bittersweet one that doesn’t shy away from exploring these emotional depths.

I also loved the representation within this world as well, and how it is never treated as an oddity, but is welcomed with open arms.

Of Honey and Wildfires is full of emotional moments which are wonderfully woven together into a tragic tale that sings a mournful dirge.

[Trinity · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sarah Chorn has surprised me. In a world full of secrets, she is able to bring a captivating, enchanting and emotional fantasy novel that will grip your heartstrings and not let go.

From the intro to the ending I was invested in this story. With a gripping prolouge we easily understand that the stakes in this story will be high. Not even knowing what is going on, I found myself needing to know what was going to happen. The intrigue never slows down and as the story weaves itself through time, we learn that people have been keeping secrets. These secrets unravel and the emotion and connection to the characters grow throughout.

While I am not big on purple prose, I did find Sarah’s writing to be quite beautiful. There were some moments where I rolled my eyes a bit but for the most part, I felt it added to the magical quality of the world she’d created.

The setting was also quite interesting. I’m used to fantasy either being set in a medieval Europe or desert fantasy. To have one set in the Early American setting was fresh and entertaining simply for being different. Being from Oklahoma where the “wild-west” is still a way of life, I’m typically not drawn to this but I feel it worked really well for the backdrop of this story.

Having seen all of that, you may be asking yourself, “why did you initially pick up this novel then?” I have been stalking Chorn’s release dates because all of her covers are absolutely beautiful. I couldn’t resist owning the books. And I am excited for the second in this series. It is equally gorgeous.

[Carrie Chi Lough · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sarah Chorn's lyrical writing style is bold. It is violent. She carves sentences that bleed with emotion. She is an author that not only experimented with concepts beyond her debut novel, but dared to trespass the boundaries of conventional story telling.

The way Sarah continues to betray the norm and win makes her an author I will closely follow.

Of Honey and Wildfires is written across several timelines and changes between deep point of view, first and third person perspectives. This should not work! But it does in an almost unassuming delivery. She constructed her book so carefully, it wasn't until I sat down to write this review and really examine this book that I gained the appropriate respect for what Sarah had achieved.

"He wanted to put his foot on the ground and feel the call of home rattle his bones. He heard nothing but silence, though. Nothing but all the aching emptiness."

While a traumatic upbringing is prevalent in fantasy, Arlen and Cassandra truly suffer. Childhood trauma does not die off when you become older. Its pain infects and poisons into adulthood, tainting relationships and outlook on life. True grief endures. These characters mirror authentic and honest pain.

[A.M. Justice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full review to come, but in short, this is a lovely book that delves deep into the mysteries of compassion, love, and the price one pays for both.

My full review can be seen here: http://fantasy-faction.com/2020/of-ho...

[Mili · Rating 4 out of 5]

Superb writing and storytelling. So much emotion and hope in these characters. The shine is fascinating. And there is lgbt rep.

[Jason Aycock · Rating 5 out of 5]

I sat down on a recent Wednesday night to start reading Of Honey And Wildfires. This would be my third read for Self-Published Fantasy Month and the first book from Sarah Chorn I’d ever read. I was relaxed, in a good mood, and looking forward to the read because I’d seen nothing but great reviews for Sarah’s books. But I also knew from those reviews that I might be in for some feels. Reader…I wasn’t prepared.

I only managed to finish a few chapters and had to stop. I couldn’t read anymore. I just couldn’t. I had to set it down and walk away. Why you ask? Well…my post to Twitter was this…

“Holy f—! If I could write a review of just the first Cassandra chapter. I’m gutted. I want to quote half of it. Deep breath and maybe a drink before I carry on.”

Yep. Gutted. And the book had just started. It just hit me hard. I seriously got up, poured myself a finger of bourbon, sat down and sipped a while. I don’t claim this was healthy, but I did it anyway. I was thinking of picking the book up again but Sarah replied to my comment with this…

“Brace yourself. Writing this book flayed me emotionally.”

So I stopped for the night.

It isn’t often that an author has an impact with their writing and use of language and emotion in such a short span of pages. Those kinds of authors are out there. Alix E. Harrow comes to mind. But they don’t show up every day and plop down in your favorite reading chair with you and settle in. Sarah Chorn did it on that Wednesday night and I was wrecked.

Of Honey And Wildfires will take you on an emotional journey. It’s a book about pain and loss and mourning. It’s also a book about discovering yourself and fighting for what is yours. It’s the kind of book I really love; the kind that takes you through the wringer a bit, makes you think about your life and it’s highs and lows, then sets you down afterward to let you ponder what was, what is, and what can still be.

Characters And POV
The story is told from three points of view. The first is that of Cassandra, the daughter of a notorious outlaw who is sent to live with relatives at a young age. The second is Ianthe, a young woman suffering from consumption and Cassandra’s best friend. The third is Arlen, the son of the mogul who owns and controls all of Shine Territory. Cassandra and Ianthe’s narrative is told in the first person and Arlen is told in third person which makes for an interesting read and interpretation. I have a guess as to why this was done but I’m holding back so as not to give what may be a spoiler.

“You have made me out to be a monster. I ask, what is a monster if not a warning against the dark? I have done you a service. Perhaps you will recognize that, someday.” – Cassandra p. 7

Chorn takes these three points of view and and weaves them together in an interesting way. All three begin the story from different timeframes and work their way up to the present. Cassandra starts at age five, Ianthe at ten days ago, and Arlen at two weeks prior. Little by little each narrative makes it’s way to the present and fills in a tragic backstory until they come crashing together at the end.

Interspersed with these points of view are additional short “interview” chapters, where characters are speaking to some unknown interrogator about some event the details of which are uncertain. It all combines to convey the sense that something of importance has happened but you’re uncertain if it’s good or bad, only that underlying it something tragic has occurred.

All three characters are written with a depth and soul that will grab you, make you feel their humanity, and gut you. It’s a testament to Chorn’s writing that she can do this even with Ianthe’s chapters which are always no more than a page or two and focus on her gaze and view of Cassandra.

There are trans characters in this story as well as same sex relationships. These characters and relationships are written beautifully and without stigma. I hesitate to say more because it will give things away, but suffice it to say these characters, their orientation and relationships are written with love at their core.

Writing
Chorn’s writing is atmospheric and magical. I don’t know how else to say it. It conveys emotion throughout; at one moment heartfelt love and devotion, and at another pain and anger. Nothing is wasted and everything moves you to the next scene, the next element of time, the next emotion, while building up the tension all the way to the end. You know things can’t turn out well but you have to keep turning the pages because you HAVE to know where the story is leading you; you HAVE to know what it is building to; you HAVE to know how the tragic tale will end.

World Building And Magic System
Of Honey And Wildfires is a Western themed fantasy. By that I mean the American West of the 19th century which also means it is fantasy, but not in the typical sense. So I guess it falls into the Weird West subgenre. In this world based on our own but not our own, a prospector Matthew Esco discovered a shine field on a vast tract of land out west. Shine is much like oil, but so very different. Shine has power; the power to heal, the power to purify, the power to so many things. It also has the power of addiction. It affects those who are close contact with it for prolonged periods of time causing them to have skin and hair color of every shade of the rainbow. It will make rotten food safe to eat again, and can heal wounds and stave off infections. It’s burned in lamps for light, and in fires for cooking. It’s even used as ammunition for weapons instead of bullets.

This shineland has been sealed off by powerful means so that nobody can cross the boundary without an antidote. Those inside the barrier when it was erected are stuck, and those outside can’t get in. Not without permission from the company that runs the shine business. It’s a monopoly on a product and a drug that everyone wants. People inside the barrier work to produce it (at dangerous cost) and those outside can’t get enough of it. Shine is the magic system, and the cause of the conflict in the narrative.

I know a lot of what I just said could go under the STORY section above but I mention it here because this is the worldbuilding for the most part. The world outside the barrier is mentioned here and there but really it’s what’s inside the barrier and the existence of shine that sets things in motion and drives the conflict. It’s a low fantasy story with a simple plot device used to great effect.

Themes
I’m always looking for themes in fantasy reads because too often fantasy is assumed not to have any. A few stood out to me with Of Honey And Wildfires, including family, child labor, and exploitation (of both natural resources and people). But for me what stood out the most were themes of pain, and loss, and mourning. In truth many if not all of the other themes can be wrapped up into these. From page 1 until the very end the reader is on a journey through an emotional wringer that explores the effects of bad decisions, ego, and evil alongside the tragedies of situations people are born into and have little control over.

Yet set against the despair the above themes can invoke is that of hope. Sprinkled throughout are instances of the characters casting their gaze toward something better and greater, whether it be the canopy of the moon and stars above and what they might represent, to the gaze of a lover for their beloved. Indeed the title Of Honey And Wildfires within the context of the book casts a view toward the hope of goodness and purity that emerges though the other side of suffering.

Conclusion
I know this review is long…it seems I can’t help but write long reviews. I’m glad you’ve stuck with me to this point. I’m not sure what else I can say in closing except that you should read this book. It is easily one of the best books I’ve read this year, self-published or otherwise. Of Honey And Wildfires doesn’t just tell you a story or take you on a journey, it makes you feel. Books that give you the feels are the best kind in my opinion. With this read Sarah Chorn has landed on my automatic buy list, and friends let me tell you that’s a short list.

– Jason

As of the writing of this review, Of Honey And Wildfires has also been listed as a semi-finalist in this year’s Self Published Fantasy Blog Off (SPFBO).

[Wolfmantula · Rating 5 out of 5]

For more reviews, go to www.Wolfmantula.com

📖 Kindle, no audio 🔇

The fantastic Sarah Chorn, not only is an editor for several Indie authors and now for GrimDark magazine, but also writes fantastic books as well! This western fantasy is superb! Sarah’s prose is just amazing, I mean absolutely flawless! I have like 20 quotes that I saved… and 10 were from the first 20% of the book. I had to stop writing them down lol. And they are all so good, they flow like lyrics of a song. You could say that Sarah is a lyrical prose assassin!

“My sorrow was a dark, secret thing, a stray cat hidden in the coldest corner of my soul. I fed her scraps. I watched her grow.
Sometimes it is the wounds we do not see that leave the deepest scars.”

The story was just phenomenal and very emotional, it was story of family and friends, of love and loss, of sacrifice and redemption. There were parts at the end that were hard for me to read for personal reasons, but I powered through that toughness, because Sarah’s writing was so eloquent and soothing, it helped me read it. It will definitely grab you by the heart strings and try to tug you. Sarah’s words were chosen perfectly as you can feel the devastation in them.

“The road I walk on is paved with bones. I’ve got no problem adding a few more to my tally. Now, get moving.”

The characters were so easy to connect with, both Arlen and Cassandra were amazing in completely different ways. One grew up rich without family and the other poor with family. Both heading down roads that would forever change their lives. I am 100% going to be finishing the rest of this series and reading more from this author. I couldn’t choose which quotes to use, so I just left a few more below to be amazed at and understand why I say that Sarah Chorn is a lyrical prose assassin.

“This was love, this burning. It was not as sweet as honey; rather, it was a wild thing. A tempest. A raging forest fire. It was hungry, and it demanded. For what would a father not do for his child?”

“Legacy was such an odd word, full of long, stretching vowels and even longer consonants. It filled his mouth up like wine, heady and intoxicating, demanded to be savored”

“A body can only live so long with a wounded heart and a bleeding soul.”

“The soul is such a fickle thing. Easy to bruise. Easy to wound. No wonder why we protect ourselves with this careful camouflage. All of these meticulously cultivated aspects of ourselves we drag with us through the years. Our costumes are heavy, of course our spines are bent.”

“I learned something that day. There are different forms of grace. I was not graceful like a dancer. I was graceful like a mountain lion, newly formed and full of teeth.”

[Ria Bridges · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve been a fan of Chorn’s writing style since reading Seraphina’s Lament in 2019. She has a brilliant evocative style that drew me in, turning emotions into landscapes in a way that felt downright poetic. That same style is evident in Of Honey and Wildfires, though I found that this one had a much stronger focus on the narrative than Seraphina’s Lament. It might be because her first novel dealt with events happening on a massive scale, changing how the very world worked, whereas here, the story has a narrower focus. One small area, a few primary characters. It’s a different scope, but Chorn deals with it just as well.

Of Honey and Wildfires is a fantasy Western, at its heart, taking heavy inspiration from the American West during the 1800s. The setting is Shine Territory, a place where shine is pulled from the world and is infused into everything. Shine is like magic, only with a physical form. Add some shine to food and it will taste better. Use it to make ammunition for guns. Give undiluted shine to a person and grant them temporary psychic powers, but also make them terribly addicted. Shine production and distribution is controlled by Shine Company, and is a blessing and a curse for pretty much everyone involved with it. Life gets better with it, but at the cost of the lives of those who mine it or pulls it up from wells.

Your basic capitalist scheme that values profits over people, basically.

While I don’t think that Chorn intended to write a book about worker exploitation specifically, that element is definitely present in the text, and it’s nearly impossible to ignore. One of the protagonists, Arlen, is the son of the head of Shine Company, sent out to Shine Territory to further company interests, sees firsthand how brutal lives of the company’s workers can be. Children in the mines, company propaganda about how kids working is a good thing because they help take care of their families, the benefits given to the people who agree to become addicts for the company’s sake… It’s not a pretty world, and the company byline clashes with the brutal reality of the situation, and early on the weight of the situation comes crashing down around Arlen’s head. He recognizes that his life has been immensely privileged, living off the benefits of an exploitative system, and the real meaning of that hits home when he sees the people who are being exploited for his comfort.

Arlen’s viewpoint isn’t the only one followed in the novel. There’s also Cassandra, daughter of an outlaw who works to shut down Shine Company, sent to live with extended family to keep her safe. Cassandra’s childhood isn’t an easy one, being markedly different from the people in Shine Territory, and also having a known outlaw for a father, but she’s a fascinating character, strong and stubborn and devoted to the things and people dear to her.

Cassandra’s one of those characters to whom things happen, whereas Arlen is one who has greater impact on the events he takes part in. True, Arlen still gets dragged along for rides now and again, but his is definitely the more action-oriented viewpoint, whereas much of Cassandra’s story involves the simple telling of a complicated life. Her narrative is compelling, to be sure, since she occupies a rather unique place in the world, but in many ways, hers is a more passive role. She could have been removed from the story as very little would have changed, since most of the main story elements were in the hands of Arlen and Chris, Cassandra’s father. The narrative would be poorer for her absence, since her tone and style are quite different from Arlen’s, but if her chapters were removed, most of what readers would lack would be context. Cassandra’s chapters are the emotional connection in many ways.

Now, I’m a bit torn on how I feel about this, to be honest. In one way, Cassandra’s character dips into some problematic territory. Her relationship with her best friend Ianthe ends somewhat tragically (this is foreshadowed heavily early on, so it’s not a massive spoiler to say so, I figure), which adds her to a large list of “queer characters who lose their lover in a tragic fashion.” Combined with her more passive role in the story, especially when compared to Arlen, it’s easy to categorize her as “a woman who isn’t really necessary to anything.”

But as accurate as those criticisms may be, they also do a disservice to Cassandra’s character. She may have a more passive role in the tale, but her parts of the story are still interesting. With her, you get context. You get to see how many people in Shine Territory live, what their lives are like, what their concerns are. I love reading this sort of thing. One of my earliest complaints with learning history in school was that we always got taught the big events, the major players in how things changed, but we never got anything about how the general populace lived out their lives. Wars occurred to determine who sat on a throne, but for your average labourer, their lives went on as they always did, and I wanted to know about those lives. That is, in essence, Cassandra’s viewpoint. She gives that everyday context that provides the counterpoint to Arlen’s experiences, and yes, I know that “woman who exists to further a man’s story” is also a damaging trope, but I don’t think Cassandra quite falls into that one, since she can absolutely carry her own story.

It just happens that her own story had less action and less impact to Shine Territory in the end. But it was no less interesting than Arlen’s, and I think it’s a testament to Chorn’s skill with writing that she can create a character who has less impact but is nevertheless just as compelling to read about.

I don’t know if there’ll be any more to Cassandra and Arlen’s connected story. Of Honey and Wildfires could be a standalone novel and work perfectly, a short glimpse into a fascinating aspect of a fantasy world that isn’t any more than it needs to be. At the same time, the world and characters are interesting enough that I absolutely want to see more, to see what has changed now that this book has ended and Shine Territory isn’t what it was in the beginning. It feels like there could easily be more stories set in the world, and I’m down for reading them. If the true tale is only beginning, I want to be there at the end. But I could still be satisfied with this one novel, if that’s all there needs to be. I do enjoy books that can stand on their own merits without needing to be half finished or give cliffhanger endings to keep me interested, and Of Honey and Wildfires definitely checks that box.

If you enjoyed Chorn’s other work, then you’ll similarly love this one. It’s an engaging story in an uncommon fantasy setting, and it’s written with the same beautiful and evocative style that I’ve grown accustomed to with Chorn. This is a novel that deserves a place on your bookshelves, with plenty to say and a compelling way of saying it. Do yourself a favour and dip your toes into this Western-inspired shine-soaked world that is sure to make an impression.

(Book received in exchange for an honest review.)

[Miriam O'Shea · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was looking forward to reading Of Honey and Wildfires by Sarah Chorn because she edited one of my favourite books (Dragon Mage by ML Spencer) and I was intrigued to see what a talented editor could do when in the writer’s chair.
I was not expecting this.
I thought the pacing would be good, the sentences would flow well (isn’t that what editors are good at?), but the sheer quality of the prose absolutely blew me away. This is a book of raw emotion, Chorn manages to capture the ache of love, the need to belong, and the fierce and unconditional bond of family in a visually stunning story set in the Wild West of America.
The storyline is slow and reflective, (this is not an adrenaline fuelled wild west action story), with the emphasis on the way events affect individuals, rather than the events themselves being the focus of the story.
I enjoyed the switch between first and third person perspectives, as well as the jumps back and forth through timelines, all culminating in the final few chapters where the results of years of events play out in a devastating conclusion. These techniques sound as though they shouldn’t work but they really do!
The characters are realistic and deep, each flawed and unique, struggling with the burdens of their past and hoping for a brighter future. Their interactions are genuine and heartbreaking - I felt every moment along with them.
Chorn also examines addiction through the nature of the magical substance Shine - this life enhancing colourful substance can leave users with a crippling addiction which is hard to recover from, much like our relationship with opiates.
Visually this book is stunning, so colourful and evocative, images which will stay with me for a long time. Emotionally raw and visceral (I was in tears for the last few chapters) I am already eagerly anticipating the second book, Glass Rhapsody, but will need a few days before I’m ready to commit to that level of intensity again!

This book makes me wish I hadn’t given so many 5 star ratings on Goodreads - they were great reads but this book deserves something extra, a sixth star reserved for books that make an impression on your soul and will stay with you forever.

[Mohit Dhuppad · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of Honey and Wildfires by Sarah Chorn is a lyrical and emotional experience of grief, sorrow, and love.

The Prose is descriptive of emotions. The author's imagination of portraying human emotions from nature's beauty deserves credit. This makes it a beautiful reading experience through the book, as sorrow expressed with nature's beauty is something I have never read, and it's well done. There are chapters that develop a character from childhood as flashbacks and chapters which happen in present.
It's a mix of First-person and Third.
These chapters progress alongside with a good pace throughout and travel to the present.

The characters get a good amount of time to develop and grow the relationships between them. There are characters to root for in the book. The reading experience with the characters shows grief at a very high level filled with love.

The world is small and enough for the story. It has geographically separated societies. It has horses and trains too.

The magic system is soft which makes it simple to focus on other aspects of the story. It is the basis of societies of rich and poor in it.

Anyone who wants to read a book full of emotions with nature as a part of it. When you know the end is heartbreaking but you want to carry on and read to know what lies ahead for the characters and their relationship at the end.

The Chapter's time-lining of Past Story with Present is done precisely well and reminded me of the time-lining of the movie Dunkirk.

The second book in this series(Songs of Sefate) – Glass Rhapsody is releasing on 30th June 2021. I have pre-ordered the e-book at $0.99/₹74 and looking forward to reading it.